


Dumbledore's Meeting

by AlbusGellertAlways



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Confessions, F/M, Hogwarts Third Year, M/M, alludes to Grindeldore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:33:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25691371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlbusGellertAlways/pseuds/AlbusGellertAlways
Summary: Hermione meets with Dumbledore about dropping Divination and ends up learning more about the professor's personal life about a certain Seer than she was expecting.
Relationships: Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 9
Kudos: 63





	Dumbledore's Meeting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [princesserica84](https://archiveofourown.org/users/princesserica84/gifts).



> I wanted to gift princesserica84 with a little fic. She loves Romione so I included a hint of that. Hope you enjoy it!
> 
> This came from a conversation I had with my elderly grandmother a long time ago. She confessed a person secret (I don't remember what it was but it was important to her) and I felt honored she chose to confide in me.

Disclaimer: JKR owns it.

.~.

_Dumbledore’s Meeting_

Albus sat at his ornate wooden desk in his grand office, penning an article for _Transfiguration Today_ as Fawkes cooed in the background. It was a nice escape from all of his administrative duties. Albus knew he was needed as Hogwarts’ headmaster but there were times when he missed being a teacher. He missed interacting with students, mentoring them and encouraging them to chase after their dreams. Albus tried not to play favorites but every once in a while, a certain student’s brilliance would cause him to take notice. 

In a moment’s time, he would be meeting with one of those very students. Albus wasn’t certain what the meeting would be about, but he had a hunch it would be about her overly full schedule.

The creaking of the stone staircase turning alerted Albus to the arrival of his student.

“Come in,” Albus called as the staircase came to a halt, admitting a young girl. 

“Professor Dumbledore.” Hermione acknowledged him with a nod. Her bushy locks were pulled back in a ponytail, a common muggle style of the decade. She stared up at the portraits of the other Hogwarts headmasters and all the other magical artifacts Albus had placed on the shelves. He imagined she was rather envious of his personal library, which was quite extensive. Their love of reading for pleasure was something they had in common.

“You have a lovely office, sir.”

“Thank you, Miss Granger. Please, have a seat.” He gestured nodded at the brilliant third-year student, who took a seat in an empty chair across from his desk. If Albus was honest with himself, he saw a lot of himself in the girl. Magically gifted, intelligent, motivated to succeed, to go above and beyond what was required. “What may I do for you?”

“Well, sir, it’s about my classes.” Hermione blushed. “I’m afraid I’m a little in over my head.”

“I did warn you, but you seemed so thirsty for knowledge I didn’t have the heart to dash your hopes.” Albus smiled at her. “However, I’m glad you learned this lesson on your own.”

Hermione smiled gratefully. “So you wouldn’t hold it against me if I wanted to drop Divination?”

Albus chuckled. “Certainly not. Believe me, I’m aware it’s not a student favorite. Even if you drop it, you’ll still be taking more classes than any of my seventh years and that’s quite a feat.”

Hermione looked dejected even though he’d just complimented her. “I tried to do my best, honestly I did, but Professor Trelawney said I have very little talent. If that’s true, there’s no reason for me to stay in her class.”

“Don’t pay her words any mind.” Albus reached across the desk and patted her hand. “You are a very gifted student, Miss Granger. All of your other teachers see it, as do I.”

“Thank you, sir.” Hermione’s cheeks flushed pink. “Perhaps there’s a reason why I’m deficient. Professor Trelawney said that only true Seers can see into the future. She made it sound like it was a gift that you were born with, like her. Is that true?”

“That she is a legitimate Seer?” Albus stroked his beard. “I heard her give a prediction once. It was so spot-on that I immediately offered her the job.” 

“No, I mean…are true Seers born with their gift?”

“Yes, in my experience they are,” Albus confirmed. He gave a small chuckle as if he’d just remembered something. 

Hermione closely scrutinized the headmaster, deciding to ask a gnawing question that had been plaguing her for months. “Professor, I read our entire History of Magic textbook. Apparently no one has bothered to read it all the way to the end because it’s so long and the material won’t be covered in the class. Ron made fun of me for doing so.” She lowered her voice. “He does that a lot.”

“Does he now?” Albus’ eyes twinkled. He’d spent many years watching young students interact, and he was certain that if the feelings that were already present between Hermione and the young Mister Weasley grew as they aged, they would make a good match. “Well, I think your conscientiousness should be rewarded. After all, those who don’t learn history are doomed to repeat it.”

“Thank you, sir. Actually, I wanted to ask you something about what I read.” Hermione gave him an earnest look. “In the text, the author alludes to the fact that Grindelwald was a Seer and he used his gift to convince wizards and witches to come over to his side. Is… is that true?”

A faraway look surfaced in the headmaster’s eyes. “Yes, it is.”

“I’m sorry, sir.” Hermione blushed again. “I shouldn’t have asked but I read about your duel with him and I was curious.”

“It’s quite alright,” said Albus, nodding understandingly. “I’m glad you are curious. Do you have more questions for me?”

She nodded. “I read that Grindelwald hated muggles, that he wanted them to be subservient to Wizardkind. I was wondering… well, if I’d lived back then, if given the chance, would he have tried to kill me?” Hermione asked in a small voice.

Albus’ expression softened. “Miss Granger, if Gellert had met you, he would’ve valued your life very much indeed. Muggleborn or not, he never wanted to spill Wizarding blood unless a wizard or witch was a direct threat against him. I know it might be hard to believe but he’s nothing like Voldemort.”

Hermione was so surprised she forgot to flinch at Voldemort’s name. “ _Gellert_? You were on a first-name basis?”

“Oh yes.” Albus nodded. “Now that fact is not known to the wizarding world at the moment, and I’d like to keep it that way. However, I believe you to be a trustworthy confidant. Can I count on you to keep my secret, even from Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley?”

“Of course, Professor,” Hermione said, sounding eager. Albus recognized the hero worship there. He knew from experience that her loyalty would ensure she’d never tell anyone. 

“I know this might seem odd to you, but I want one person to know the real truth about Gellert.” Albus absentmindedly stroked his beard. “He wasn’t quite the heartless monster that history paints him out to be, although I understand why it must be reported that way. On the contrary, he did what he did to _prevent_ Wizarding deaths, or at least he started out that way.”

Hermione looked intrigued. “How do you know that?”

“We met in our youth.” Albus couldn’t believe how easy it was to talk to her. “We spent two months together in the summer after I graduated and became rather close. At the time, I never dreamed that I would put him away in prison when we were much older. No matter what you read about him, at first his intentions were good. During our second week together, he shared a violent vision that he’d had with me, of what is now known to history as World War One. Gellert was convinced that he could stop it, that he could stop all the needless deaths of the wizards and witches who would most certainly become involved in the muggle war. He asked for my help to do it. Only his methods were rather… suspect.”

“But you didn’t agree to help him, right?”

Albus bowed his head. “I’m ashamed to say that I did. Judge me all you like, I certainly deserve it.”

Hermione’s brow knitted. This didn’t tally with her image of her professor at all. “Why did you do it?”

“It’s complicated, as you might imagine.” Albus absentmindedly touched the bridge of his crooked nose. “One of the reasons is that I thought that I could temper his violent methods. If we hadn’t had a falling out, perhaps I could’ve and we might’ve prevented World War One, or at least ended it sooner and saved countless wizarding lives.” 

Hermione wondered what the story was behind their falling out, but she was too polite to ask. “Did you know then, what he’d grow up to be?”

“Did I know he’d become the most feared Dark Lord the wizarding world had seen at the time?” Albus gave a tiny wince. “There were signs, but I was blinded by my feelings of friendship to pay them any mind. You cannot imagine how much I regret that now.”

“You said he’s not like He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Can you elaborate on that?” Hermione pressed. 

Albus pursed his lips. “Gellert didn’t believe in all of the purity of blood nonsense that Voldemort does. Also, Voldemort does not know of empathy or love - he is incapable of feeling those emotions. I can say with absolute certainty that Gellert has demonstrated both. I’m also told that he’s demonstrated remorse for his crimes, something Voldemort could never do.” 

Hermione was fascinated by all these new tidbits of information her professor was sharing with her, even though they contradicted what she knew about Grindelwald. “And that’s why even though the Ministry urged you to, you didn’t kill him?”

“Yes. I couldn’t bring myself to kill him but nor could I let him continue his violent crimes. After we dueled and I won, I imprisoned him in his own castle, Nurmengard. He remains there today, the only prisoner left from a bygone war.”

“Hmm.” Hermione looked thoughtful. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “You spared him from Azkaban.”

Albus nodded. “I convinced the Ministry that it would be a bitter sense of irony if he ended up imprisoned in his own fortress. They agreed, which spared him from the Dementors. Did he deserve Azkaban? Probably. But I couldn’t bring myself to do that to him. I suppose you could say that indicates weakness.”

Hermione shook her head. “I don’t think I could ever send Ron or Harry to Azkaban, no matter what they’d done. Friendship creates a powerful bond between people.”

“That it does,” Albus softly agreed. “Do you have any other questions for me?”

“Just one. Professor, when you awarded Neville those ten points in our first year for standing up to his friends, did you have yourself in mind? I can’t imagine it was easy to confront Grindelwald when you’d been friends in the past.”

Albus sighed. Miss Granger had called him out. He shouldn’t be surprised she’d put two and two together. “Clever girl. Yes, I did have myself in mind. Believe me, it was not easy to imprison my former friend. Many people thought that I feared his magical abilities and that’s the reason I delayed facing him. It was easier to let them believe that rather than admit the real truth. There’s much more to the story than that, but it was one of the reasons I delayed.”

“Don’t worry, Professor. My lips are sealed,” Hermione promised.

“Thank you.” Albus gave her a bittersweet smile. “You’ll never know how freeing it was for me to tell you that, for you to listen to an old man’s burdens.”

Hermione nodded. “I’m glad I could help. Well, I’d better be going. I promised Ron and Harry I’d meet them in the library. Thank you for letting me drop Divination. Now I won’t be nearly as stressed about my classes.” She turned to go but Albus called her back.

“Oh, Miss Granger? One more thing.” 

Hermione about-faced. “Yes, sir?”

“If Gellert were here today, I think he’d make a prediction that you very well might become Minister of Magic someday. That is, if you study hard and apply yourself.” Albus winked at her and he reached for a book on his desk. 

A piece of parchment accidentally slipped off the professor’s desk as he picked up the book. Hermione picked it up and glanced at it before she handed it to her professor. She noticed the letterhead was that of Nurmengard prison and just had to ask about something that was mentioned. 

Hermione cocked her head as she handed the letter to Albus. “Sir, what’s a conjugal visit?”

The End

.~.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: A conjugal visit is a visit to a prisoner, by the spouse of the prisoner, especially for sexual relations. I didn’t even know that was a thing until a few months ago! Poor Albus, having to explain or deflect from that. I’ll leave that to your imaginations lol. 
> 
> Comments and kudos are great!


End file.
